Alla Nazimova

Alla Nazimova was a Russian-born actress who became one of the most celebrated and highly paid stars of the early Hollywood silent era, known for adaptations of Ibsen and Wilde as well as her own productions. She financed and starred in Salomé (1923), a visually radical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play whose all-queer cast — including many members of her social circle — made it one of the first queer-coded productions in Hollywood history. Her estate in West Hollywood, known as the Garden of Alla, was a gathering place for the bohemian and queer artists of her era. Though never publicly out in the modern sense, Nazimova had long-term relationships with women throughout her life and is now recognized as a pioneering queer icon of pre-Code Hollywood.